Pelicans

Caye Caulker Pelicans Stopped in Motion

A pelican standing on a wooden post, spreading its wings, with a red and white building in the background.

On my first trip to Belize, we stayed in Caye Caulker for the whole time. We had plans to explore further afield but we settled in and really enjoyed spending all of our time exploring this special island. The birdlife around the water was fantastic and I had great opportunities to photograph the brown pelicans daily.

A pelican splashing water while swimming in a pond.
A brown pelican gliding just above the surface of the water with its wings spread wide.
A brown pelican spreading its wings while preparing to take off, perched on a post with lush green palm trees in the background.
A pelican flying with its wings spread wide against a background of tropical palm trees.

That worked well for me, I love these birds and they often share something new that catches my eye whenever I get to photograph them in motion.

A pelican flying towards the camera over a body of water, with its wings fully extended.


A brown pelican perspective

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We were in Belize last month and I had some great opportunities to photograph the wildlife there. I have always loved Brown pelicans – the way they fly, their mannerisms and particularly how they dive to fish. There was one that perched on the roof above me on a dock. Leaning over to look down into the water, this pelican offered me a great view at its long beak. The water drop made it one of my favorite photographs from last year.


Flashback Friday: Pelicans flying over the Sea of Cortez

It has been a couple of years since I went to Cabo San Lucas.  Thinking about an image for Flashback Friday, one from a spectacular sunrise there came to mind.  The fiery sky had me thinking about where to set up for a landscape shot when I saw a brief of brown pelicans flying low over the water.  I switched to my camera with a telephoto lens attached and watched as they rose off the water.  This let their silhouettes contrast sharply from the background.  That got me excited and I squeezed off a couple of photos before they dropped down again and continued southwards.

If you are interested in seeing a few more images like this one, here is another photo from the same flight which I posted that morning in December 2014.  And, another post where one pelican flew very close to me a couple of days later and I isolated the lone bird against the sky and the rising sun.

A few minutes later, I returned to landscape hunting and was not disappointed in any way with what nature laid out before me.

 


Sunrise and pelican silhouettes

Sunrise Pelican - © Christopher Martin-4764

One morning on couple of Brown pelicans were fishing close to the rocks where I was perched.  This started before dawn and lasted through sunrise.  There were a few great moments to silhouette one against the early sky.

Sunrise Pelicans - © Christopher Martin-4623

The clouds changed moods swiftly through the morning.  It was a very nice moment on a beautiful stretch of the coastline a few miles east of Cabo San Lucas.

Sunrise Pelican - © Christopher Martin-4776-2